Prepared by: Valerie Nell
Posted on: September 29, 2002
Reposted on: November 1, 2003
Reposted on: March 6, 2005
Reposted on: April 30, 2006
In writing we create worlds inhabited by
characters - characters
that vary
in age, class, nationality, creed and much else besides. A good
writer makes readers share directly in the experience of his/her
characters
by showing them the world *through* a given character's eyes. This is
what
we mean when we talk about a certain character's point of view (POV).
It
should be believable, distinctive, and consistently sustained for that
character throughout the story.
Children present a particular challenge as
POV characters. They are
different enough from adults to merit special attention to their
"voice" in
a story.
Their perception of the world differs
greatly from ours. Their
imaginations
are always active. Their senses allow everything in. They haven't
developed the intellectual filters that adults have.
They're less concerned with social
niceties. They often cut straight
to the
bone.
In many ways, they are "freer" than we
are. The world is their
oyster, and
they are at the centre of it.
The world probably also feels very large:
things do seem bigger when
you're
little.
Lastly, children see things in more
concrete terms than adults do.
They are more concerned with objects and events than with abstract
ideas.
(Five years appears to be a landmark age at which all the fundamental
tools
for using language are in place. For these first five years,
development
proceeds very fast. After that, it's more just a question of increasing
sophistication and enlarging vocabulary - building on what is already
there.
For those who are interested, the stages
of language development *up
to*
age five can be found at the URL's below:
http://www.weetalk.net/learn.htm
http://www.parentscentre.org.nz/babies_and_preschoolers/6-12mths/C-Language.htm
http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/devel2.htm
And here are some examples from published
works of fiction. Note
that
these children are all well over the age of five:-
From "Angela's Ashes",
by Frank McCourt:
We ran to the church. My mother panted along behind with
Michael in her arms. We arrived at the church just in time
to see the last of the boys leaving the altar rail where
the priest stood with the chalice and the host, glaring
at me. Then he placed on my tongue the wafer, the body and
blood of Jesus. At last, at last.
It's on my tongue. I draw it back.
It stuck.
I had God glued to the roof of my mouth.
Out of the mouths of babes! This has the
irreverence, the vitality, the
no-nonsense approach to language, and the tumbling out of words and
impressions straight from the gut, that I can imagine an energetic
young boy
having.
~~~~~~~~
From "Confusion", by
Elizabeth Jane Howard:
Neville leaned over and put his hand gingerly on the
old man's forehead.
The skin felt cold. "I'd better try and feel his pulse,"
he said, trying to sound calm, but his voice was shaking.
But Mr.Wren's wrist was cold as well, and when Neville
let it go, it dropped back onto the bed so quickly that it
almost made him start. Tears rushed to his eyes.
"He must be dead," he said.
"Oh, poor Mr. Wren. He much have died awfully suddenly if
he didn't even have time to shut his eyes." Lydia was crying,
which he was glad of because it stopped him.
"I think we ought to say a prayer for him. I think the
people who find people who are dead ought to do something
like that."
"Well, *you* can stay and pray if you like. I'm going to
find Aunt Rach."
"Oh no, I don't think I will," Lydia said hastily. "I'll
come with you and pray on the way."
The effect of youthful candour here is
achieved almost solely by
dialogue.
~~~~~~~~~
THE EXERCISE
In 300 words or less, write a scene, a
description, or a story from
a
child's POV - where you both see the world, and express your
perceptions,
in a way which is convincingly childlike. Try to keep the focus on
*how*
you present the content, rather than on merely story line alone. Try to
give
a sense of the child's individual personality, and the things that
occupy
his/her attention. For the purposes of this exercise, we will create an
age limit of between five and thirteen.
When critiquing a submission, highlight
good use of childlike
language and
viewpoint, and moments where your understanding of the child's unique
experience of the world felt particularly rich, and - most important -
credible.
Have fun with it. Now your chance to be a
kid again!
Valerie Nell's wrap-up
Posted on: October 7, 2002
Thank you very much to Admin for helping
with the development of
this
exercise, and for the opportunity of presenting it to the list. I
certainly
learnt a great deal.
It was a productive week for submissions
and crits, and the subs
varied
widely. Some came down very firmly on the side of being a child; others
showed a mixture of styles, with childlike moments interspersed with a
slightly more adult approach. I think we all learnt a bit about point
of
view (POV), and how slippery it can be. The most important thing I
learnt is
that if you write anything that could be viewed as subjective thoughts
coming straight out of a character's mind, then you can't at the same
time
expect the reader to think that those thoughts belong to anyone else.
We had
the odd moment where thoughts seemed to emanate from the child, and yet
were
rather too adult for it.
We also learnt that it is nonetheless
possible to take a looser
approach -
to stay close to the child's POV, but at the same time have that
position
interpreted by a narrator. However, it emerged that if you do assume a
very
definite voice at the outset (like the simplistic language of a
four-year-old) then suddenly departing from that voice will seem like a
wrench to the reader, and you will lose believability. The younger the
child, the more difficult it becomes to occupy any sort of middle
ground.
Some subs gave just a slice of life;
others were more ambitious and
told a
full story. We saw ages ranging from four or five, to preteen. We met
tomboys, abused children, naughty children, bored children and a great
many
charming children. But whatever the approach, all the subs captured an
essential childishness - the ingenuousness and candour, and the
heightened
sensory awareness, that seem to be such an important part of being
young.
Well done to everyone who participated!
Val.
Grace Skibicki's wrap-up
Posted on: Mon, 14 Mar 2005
Some very good writing this past week. I
know it isn't easy to find
the child's voice. It can be a struggle.
I found the submissions presented some
unique stories told from a
child's perspective and in a child's voice. Some were able to stand
alone as a completed short short, others could be part of a larger
piece of writing. All of the submissions were very interesting to
read. A good diversity of ideas and execution.
Occasionally the adult voice crept in, but
in most cases,
disappeared
quickly as the child's voice gained dominance, again.
I learned it isn't easy to find that
child's voice,the adult wanted
to take over, edit, 'improve' what the child was saying. The minute
I let that happen, the charm and innocence of the child's voice was
lost and the focus of the paragraph changed.
I feel the submissions were well executed.
grace
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